By Eli Hughes–

Construction is expected to wrap up soon at the Ville Grill following the completion of the second phase of renovations over winter break.

Marc Ellis, who was recently appointed to handle the Ville Grill construction contract on a day-to-day basis, and Mary Cole, resident district manager for Aramark, responded to questions about the construction over email.

“We are closing out a few overall project items, but the Ville Grill has been up and running at COVID capacity (50% seating) since the beginning of the Spring semester,” they said.

The second-floor hosts more dining space for students to eat and an extra set of bathrooms.

The Louisville Cardinal reported on the Ville Grill’s construction back in October 2020. At that point, it was believed that construction would conclude by the end of November. According to Cole and Ellis, they decided to extend construction throughout winter break because the project was taking longer than expected.

Construction was broken up into two phases with the first phase consisting of a remodel of the first floor, and the second phase involving adding an upstairs floor and finishing the spaces below the new addition that couldn’t be used until the completion of Phase 2.

A new gluten solutions kiosk offers gluten-free cereal and pastries to students and staff that can’t eat gluten.

“We have all the same stations as we did previously but added a Smokehouse Station. We also made the Conscious Kitchen its own enclosed dedicated space,” Cole and Ellis said. “We also replaced all furniture throughout and added cable TVs to the upstairs.”

One of the dining options has gotten a makeover with the new name ‘Grill 1798’ as a reference to the year the university first opened.

“We have received great feedback from the campus community regarding the new, updated look of the Ville Grill,” Ellis and Cole said.  “We are excited to get started with monthly programming for the upstairs space – trivia, pop-up events, scheduled meeting space, etc. Suggestions, ideas and feedback are always welcomed from our U of L community.”

Photos by Anthony Riley // The Louisville Cardinal